One who pressed forward incessantly and never rested from his labors, who grew fast and made infinite demands on life, would always find himself in a new country or wilderness, and surrounded by the raw material of life. He would be climbing over the prostrate stems of primitive forest-trees.

Foolish Passion of My Youth
Poetry was the foolish passion of my youth,
forsaken for twenty years to raise a family.
Now I've returned to poetry and miraculously,
my foolish passion raises me.
Time
Time's a thief with wings,
stealing more than it brings.
Laureates
Not all laureates are wreathed,
not all honors are bequeathed.
War
There is no war without the shedding of blood,
Which begins with a scratch and ends with a flood.
Nature's Prayer
Trees gesticulate in morning prayer;
wind circulates with cleansing air.
Diana Sporting a Remington Sendero SF II
Over one shoulder hung a rifle,
over the other swung a brace of pheasants;
She was a no-nonsense breed of sniper,
a viper with no time for fangs of conscience.
Harlem P.O.V.
Everything outside Harlem's the boondocks,
where hayseeds opt out of Nikes for Reeboks.
Time vs. Eternity
I measure time by your absence;
timelessness by your presence.
Let's Revive the Couplet
Loosen your tie, unbutton your doublet,
Let's toast to the spirit and wit of the couplet.
Romantic Couplet
I swear, only this I know to be true,
Who needs the fair promise of heaven when I have you.
or let's take it a notch more Shakespearean:
I swear'st, I know only this and cannot disavow,
Who needs heaven's fair promise when I hast thou.
or let's take it a notch more Brooklyn:
Yo damn, bitch, yous be fine,
Don't need no crack if yous be mine.
or let's take it a notch more Twitter/Texting:
is2g, no b.s.
dnt nd 8v3n, wen ive gt ua
Mystery
New places travel to me,
Because to the world I remain a mystery.
Atheism
Knowing there was a bit of God in every man
is how atheism all began.
Pervert
People often mistake for perversity
A predilection for sexual diversity.
Schmuck
Show kindness to a schmuck,
it's guaranteed you'll get fucked.
What's Hot
We incorrectly assume what's hot
is becoming what we're not.
Wit vs. Wisdom
Wisdom derives from contemplation;
wit simply demands keen observation.
Family vs. Friends
Friends come, friends go;
Family remains in life's tidal flow.
Nomad
When your roots grow from the outside in,
home becomes whatever place you're in.
Preserving Beauty
Preserving beauty is futile;
even Cleopatra returned to the Nile.
History
History must be made,
not read;
live not vicariously,
act instead.
Peony
Take, my love, this peony,
that transformed sun into honey.
Ageing
Ageing starts with childhood's end,
Despite the perpetuity we pretend.
New
Poetry is fashion; its new arrivals
are simply just revivals.
Scorn
Neither money nor love scorn,
being of this world born.
Loss
Wisdom feels woe;
grieve loss, yes;
indulge in it, no.
Pervert
People often mistake for perversity
a predilection for sexual diversity.
Thick-Skinned
Poets who claim they're thick-skinned
have lost the sensitivity within.
Innocence
Love never loses its innocence whence
I'm the jury and you're the evidence.
Prayer
Prayer need not be lengthy;
just ask God, 'Help me.'
Boasting vs. Toasting
What many call boasting to my success
I call toasting, nonetheless.
Window
Sometimes you must break a windowpane
to glimpse beyond the rain.
Rhyme
Nowadays poets seldom rhyme
because they often haven't the time.
Death
New journeys set sail
with a final heartbeat and exhale.
Ingenuity
I count ingenuity
among the greatest gifts God's given me.
Fearless
Live your life without chronology;
Swing your cock without apology.
Endless Childhood
Put off summer's end
And adulthood's vexing burdens shall suspend.
Sharing
Know that when you share yourself, most will take,
So only share yourself, for sharing sake.
Rub It In
You were right, I was wrong;
how often will you repeat this song?
Shine
'Aye, it's good to be king, ' I groan,
Taking me place on the bootblack's throne.
Jolly vs. Folly
What seems man's folly on this sphere,
Makes angels jolly way over there.
Fragile
You'll find no greater fragility
Than a heart lacking accessibility.
Shtup
'Yo' bro, wassup
with dem skanks you love to shtup? '
Internet
Most unfortunately
the Internet's prevailing sensibility
is irony or ennui.
Read & Write
Great writers are masterful borrowers;
read everything to gain followers.
Present
Our present is the dissipating despair of our past
mingled with the promise of our future we hope will last.
Love Leads
Ask not where your love will lead;
Let fate ordain, let will concede.
Creating Distance
'Hasten not to alienate me,
it shall come by naturally.'
Post Garden
Ever since Eden,
Adam has been trying to get even.
Fascinating Adults
Childhood shouldn't frivolity dispense;
Fascinating adults are nurtured by nonsense.
Religious Confession
Priests have obsessions for confessions
of transgressions in succession.
Forgetting vs. Recollection
There's bloodletting in forgetting
as there's lingering affection in recollection.
To Become One
In bed our bodies integrate,
the lines between us obliterate.
Enemies
Ne'er shall man's enemies been drawn so near,
then when he seeketh to compare.
Fools
Fools rush in
before we can notify the next of kin.
Consolation
If at first you don't succeed,
be consoled by weed.
Imagination
No ideal can turn real
without imaginations spinning wheel.
Unwitting Measure
'You I love and treasure
in an equal, unwitting measure.'
Teaching Poetry
Teachers cannot teach
students to kindle imagination beyond their reach.
Without Love
'My world without love
still remains a world about love.'
Wildflower Poetry
Prose blossoms through cultivation,
poetry by stretches of the imagination.
Twitter Fame
Twitter's fame's purely lame ~
bottom line, we're all the same.
Ripe
Every fruit ripens in its own time;
Gather not in Autumn what's due in Springtime.
Fools
Of all the fools that tread our land,
there are few more self-deluded or dangerous,
than the self-righteous brand.
Definitions
Definitions create false boundaries around reality
so we can act smug with our small familiarity.
Sham, I Am
Dr. Seuss is an damn looser
sham that I am.
Spirochetes
Even amongst the spirochetes,
there are the privileged and elites.
Mended
If the recently mended heart,
breaks again, it shall not start.
Stigma
Withal there's remains our enigma,
why homosexuality's such a stigma.
Lies
Politicians, spies and wives tell lies;
they couldn't survive otherwise.
Keep Your Day Job Bitch
If you've guessed that I'm blessed,
augury ain't your strawberry.
Chlorophylia
Few things amaze as the palette
of the autumn blaze.
Frippery
Imagination is ostentation quite slippery,
conjuring up novelty and frippery.
Happiness
The happiness mankind seeks, it will never find,
But happiness unsought, can fulfill a blissful mind.
Write!
Write! Write! Write!
Though everything you've written can disappear overnight.
Roses Wither
Roses wither, violets wilt,
Death unstitches the threads
of life's too brief quilt.
Social Media
In social media we reveal
what prudence dictates we conceal.
Ten Words
It takes wisdom beyond nerds
to pontificate in ten words.
New Year Cheer
Despite the wear and tear
let's cheer the New Year.
Love Me Not
Love me, love me not.
love's knot's a long shot.
My Ex
There are no ex wives.
There are just wives, and ex lives.
Lost Love
Lost love's the season of mists,
Though they are gone, memory persists.
Spring
The gleeful gatherings of Spring
Makes all the other Seasons sing!
Epiphyte
Wisdom's goal's to become an epiphyte,
drawing nutrients from the light.
Poetry is Found
Poetry's equally found in tangerine moons
as in baboons playing bassoons.
Amiable
'Look at me.
Tell me what you see?
What secrets hide behind my mask
of feigned amiability? '
Lynchings
Prisoners appear sallow upon the gallows,
until death's ash soaks through their tallows.
Dust
We must dignify what our smallness signifies,
For what is man, but so much dust in disguise.
Rhyme
Rhyme is the angel's song;
Sometimes God even plays along.
Time
Can there be more callous crime
than unkindly killing time?
Fate
Despite our best intent,
we'll wind up where we're meant.
Mirror
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
mere reflections makes me small.
Death
When memories cease to be,
what forges on is facsimile.
Explosive Heart
A heart that's been played
can become a hand grenade.
Love vs. Bliss
If love were perfect we'd call it bliss.
What make love love is it's so hit and miss.
IQ vs. Duncedom
Once a confederacy of dunces
couldn't contest with IQ's purview.
Wit vs. Levity
Brevity's the soul of wit;
levity's just for talking shit.
What Poets Do
Poet's manifest what isn't there;
Imagination's conjurings from thin air.
Missed Childhood
Adolescence spent upon a cross,
regrettably is childhood's loss.
Unspoken
Your love unskoken, your words unsaid,
Have left me broken, given up for dead.
Hard Cocks and Relativity
Imagining Einstein won't make you smarter
Any more that thinking about your wife will make you harder.
Clown Retirement
Skin liver-spotted brown,
you're too old to be a clown.
Frivolousnessness
No glowing life, no life of quality,
Can ignite without a spark of frivolity.
This Poem Rocks!
Poems hewn from stones too serious,
Leaves no pebbles for the mysterious.
Galileo
The Church declared Galileo Galilei,
'a Peeping Tom led astray.*
Excuses
Every excuse subsumes a lie;
truth's avoided by squeezing by.
Without You
'Without you, all beauty's dead,
radiant rose drained of its red.'
Heartfelt Poetry
Poetry makes a heartfelt cry,
compelling God's mercy to comply.
Death's Communion
Only death's tender communion
Can engender the parent child reunion.
Brief Candle
There's both brevity in art
and affairs of the heart.
Love's Reward
Love repaid is love's reward;
recompense fair towards being adored.
Counting Words
I dream not of sheep, but 10 word poems,
counting my articulated fingers to the bones.
Shaboinkin' Poetry
Poems should sing
Like women shaboinkin' on a mattress spring.
White Clouds
White clouds mask rains torrential;
Never underestimate an enemies potential.
Snapchat Poetry
On poetry sites
poems are
dead
as soon as
they're read.
Taking Turns
'Children learn to take turns, or stand in a queue;
but I won't take turns when it comes to loving you.'
Gone to the Texas Cakewalk
The dead don't know
the meaning of the word, 'no'.
Faith
Happy-endings lie in wait
to believers clinging to their faith.
New Year's Promise
Disprove the doubting Thomas;
turn year's ending into beginning's promise.
Resonance
At second glance, what makes a poem a poem,
ain't the chime of rhyme, but the elegance of resonance.
Dragons
In the benighted landscape of your symbolic dreams,
Slaying an escaping dragon is not what it seems.
Single vs. Married Men
Bachelors love bachelorettes;
married men love
anything they can get.
Poet's Dress Code
Poetry is an absolute pursuit;
You can't pose as a poet wearing a business suit.
Wisdom vs. Beauty
Wisdom's attainable, beauty is not;
some like it wise, but most like it hot.
Tone of Love
Half of love is in its tone;
the better half is in the laugh.
Wisdom vs. Beauty
Wisdom's attainable, beauty is not;
some like it wise, but most like it hot.
Boredom
Sometimes every new day looks like the one that's passed;
boredom poses the question, 'How long will this shit last? '
Forget
Let's lift our goblet of regret,
forgive, forsake and forget.
New Year's Bells
The New Year's bell's knell
yells farewell to raising hell.
Polar Bears
Polar bears adapt to the warming global,
Sweet, threadbare, dead and noble.
Manhattan Streets
10,000 crossing footsteps, not a pair of eyes that meet;
that's how anonymity builds its hive, on cold Manhattan streets.
Sex vs. Love
The difference between man's pleasures is:
sex measures, love treasures.
Prayer and Sincerity
When driven to despair,
know sincerity's the heart of prayer.
The Universal Poet
The poet should be homeless universally;
his fealty pledged internally.
The Poet and Seclusion
Poetry creates the illusion
that poets are clever beyond seclusion.
Rain and Shine
With raindrops heaven weeps;
Sunshine's sweep reaps smiles to keep.
Speak to the Head
Tis of no fucking avail
To speak to the tail.
Forgive and Forget
The fulfilling life, filled with little regret,
Comes from learning to forgive, then as quickly forget.
Night Sky
Stars are a shimmering quilt of light,
That tucks the moon into the night.
Confession
'Remind me, Padre, of my sins, with tact,
That I may confess to them, after the fact.'
Hoping vs. Death
If hoping prolongs the dying's death,
Is it not more merciful to pray
They quickly exhale their final breath?
Heartless Heartbeat
In great poetry can you find
the lungless breath,
the heartless heartbeat
of our living,
secret
innermost mind.
Sunup
One cannot know love when the heart dries up,
or know the depth of darkness until sunup.
Give Me Poetry
Give me poetry filled with oddness, beauty and wit,
As for all the rest, I don't give a
whit ;)
Afterglow
My heart skips a beat for love to flush,
anchored in afterglow of love's heady rush.
Satire vs. Parody
Satire hides an education;
Parody makes no attempts at rehabilitation.
Broken
'His gifts have become broken things, hidden from my view,
Sitting on a shelf, above my shoes, like exterminated Jews.'
Poetry's Expiration Date
No poem older than a day,
has anything truly timely to say.
Wedding Veil
A wedding veil's of no avail
because virginity's a fairy-tale.
Madly Deeply
Love deeply, love madly, love for today,
That no one may say, you lived halfway.
Qualms
If the ills we've wrought
We come to regret,
Perhaps the good we've done
Ought these sins offset.
Comet
A comet's the white whale of discarded moons,
Frail tails steered by by the whims of gravity's harpoons.
Posthumous
The anonymous may claim their fame posthumous;
But let my words be my stake, while I'm still awake.
Seeing vs. Envision
We see nothing more than we bring to it;
heavenly orchards lie in an apple's pit!
Government Intrusion
America's biggest illusion is the belief
they're free from government intrusion.
Alzheimer's
I've half-forgotten what I forgot;
memory's become my Gordian knot.
Natural
Whatever comes natural's a matter-of-course;
we should hump without remorse.
The Seasonal Complainer
Winter's too cold, summer's too hot,
Spring's too rainy, autumn's full of rot.
Rhyme vs. Reason
Do not try to make rhyme of reason,
nor reason of rhyme;
For the former's too systematic,
the latter's too sublime.
Sexsmithing for Authenticity
For love to ascend to the next spiritual level,
it must have the sex beaten out of it by the devil.
The Poet's Touch
See little and remember much,
that's the poet's special touch.
Flirting
.
She smiles from across the bar.
¬ 'Here I am.
There you are.'
An Iconoclast Having a Blast
I could what I should;
rather do what I would.
The Poet's Job
Trigger memory, explode an emotion;
the poet must create commotion.
Change of Fortune
When fortune's change, so does the man;
Some becomes saints, and others, less than.
I ♥ Central Park
A stone's throw from Bergdorf's,
With the Hudson curling up.
Settling
"I meant what I said and I said what I meant.
Don't gamble of love when you can be content.'
Spiritual Kinship
An unerring marker of a kinship spiritual
is two people sharing love for the same poetry miracle.
What Might Have Been
Dwell not upon what might have been,
Within such idle spin, you can never win.
I've Got a Prescription
Opiates are inappropriate,
so is meth in excess,
stick strictly to weed,
and you'll convalesce.
Slacker's Motto
Given the cultural rage for productivity,
the best fuck-you's non-activity.
Immortality
Death is part of God's plan for the universe;
to yearn for immortality is heresy,
to acquire it, a curse.
Flame of Love Couplet
The flame of love, both bright and brief,
Burns hot and white in gain and grief.
Knowledge vs. Action
Knowledge and action are just the right mix
To get things done, or if we must, perform a quick fix.
Ravens and Larks
An unkindness of ravens sat in the Cimmerian dark,
envying the light and exaltation of larks.
Antsy
I've been cataloging life since infancy
and getting quite antsy;
I can't distinguish a pansy
from a dandy or chimpanzee.
Zen and the Poet
A poem's the poet's kōan,
reassuring us we're not alone.
Poetry is Dirty Dancing
Dancing's poetry of the street
in iamb, trochee, dactyl feet.
Sublime Milestones of Nature
A heron swallowing a fish,
or me deepththoating a knish.
Ought to Be
We cannot say about reality with irrefutable certainty,
The way things are, aren't the way things ought to be.
Rules
Not every poet is a fool, not every drunkard drinks,
But of this rule I can be sure, every asshole stinks.
Parrots vs. Heroes {Couplet)
The parrot learns to squawk before he dances,
So the hero must learn to obey, before he takes chances.
Safety
We teach our kids to play it safe,
But the game goes to the wayward waif.
Gauntlet Couplet
'Dude, you ain't fit to mow my lawn,
So come on bitch, just bring it on.'
Sentimentality vs. Reality
To be a reliable witness you must write without sentimentality;
But isn't writing without sentimentality a distortion of emotion's reality?
Poet's Dreams
The poet dreams up things lying
upon a bed of birds,
the wind beneath their wings
unceasingly rearranging words.
Maternal Deprivation (Haiku)
Intro. to Psych (1.1) :
to a monkey a terry cloth mother
is better than none.
Line
You're like my favorite passage in a dog-eared book,
you've caught me by line, wink, and kept me hooked.
Rain
Whenever it rains when I visit a cemetery's shrine,
I feel heaven's compassion in joining its tears with mine.
The Poet and the Tangential
In poetry what's essential
is what others regard as tangential.
Cloudy with a Chance of Romance
Against blue skies,
scudded clouds sail,
reading weather
like braille.
Who We Are
See me. Acknowledge me. Love me.
That's all what human beings crave
from the cradle to the grave.
Chlorophyll
I love the thrill of chlorophyll
when hiking through evergreens.
Pine needles wheedling their bouquet
between fifteen shades of wintergreen.
Shadows are only Neutral at Noon
Whose side shadows fall upon,
tis' ordained by reigning sun.
An Atheist's Prayers
They also pray who come to God assassinate;
For few there's redemption, for most it's too late.
The Evolution of Identity
Admittedly, my past me is not attractive company,
but we're still on nodding terms, just to maintain continuity.
Bagels vs. Bullets
A bagel with no hole is a roll;
A body with a bullet hole's a soul.
Giggles
Don't you love it when grandma giggles like a schoolgirl?
Don't you love it when grandpa gives grandma a twirl?
Death
Death, forfeit not your patience,
your prodigal son's coming home.
From incarnation to reincarnation,
from sunrise spark to twilight's gloam.
Sun vs. Moon Couplet
The harvest moon glowed orange, spilling OJ in the sky,
The sun would best her drunken rhapsody in daylight's battle cry.
Soul {10w]
Bodies are such silly things for beautiful souls to inhabit,
Like the mitre and pontifical vestments worn by the abbot.
Egyptian Poets and the Word
Once poet's master the hieroglyphical,
Nothing's left than become prolifical.
Snark vs. Insult
Snark remarks are passive aggressive;
insults are put-downs impudently impressive.
Sparks
Every Jew to his pine box,
Every Buddhist to his urn;
Their sparks ascend to Heaven
Except for those who burn.
Afghanistan
In ye olde Afghanistan.
the glocken be rockin
on the Hummer caravan,
whilst our soldiers dream
of sleigh bells ringin,
while they slay the Taliban.
Frosted Flakes vs. Serial Killers
'Count to ten before blood's spilled
to minimize collateral overkill.'
Sometimes Magic is What Disappears
Love's tragic, not ecstatic;
with finespun change, disappears the magic.
Tidal Love
Love moves us like the tides,
It draws us close and then subsides.
Emotional Detachment
Sometimes I feel so numb inside, so of feelings deprived,
That I've pretended to feel another's anger, just to feel alive.
Genesis
God spoke the world into existence, reifying an abstraction.
Now the Creator's had second thoughts and wishes to utter a retraction.
Prosperity's Curse
Prosperity's a gilded curse,
misdirecting our poor souls
from the higher purpose of life's fire,
to mindlessly rake over old coals.
The Poet from the Poem
Know the poet from the poem
despite their shared paternity;
the former spits and shits,
while the latter breathes eternity.
Grave Dancing for Dummies
They danced at my grave when I was buried at sea;
with my haters drowned, I'm now totally free.
Luck of the Irish
'This joy, too, shall pass.
When does good luck ever last? '
Fall to the Fringe
How the surface of our bare nerves tears and singe
When the dear people we love fall to the fringe.
Lies
We lose some scrap of ourselves with every lie told,
A shard, a sliver, a snippet, of our kindly mold.
Smell the Roses
We must give ambition pause to feel the breeze of bliss,
For when pursuit's invariable, we'll miss all happiness.
Rain and Glass
Rain can best be appreciated
when observed behind glass,
for nature's element is felt keenest
when framed by contrast.
Herd Instinct
Sniff at a newcomer to gather the scent of their intention.
'Are you one of us, or is your semblance just pretension? '
Luck vs. Fate
Who's to say what is lucky and what's not.
When man's fate's tied up in a double knot.
The Drug Dealer's 10w Spiel
Don't trust lust; if you must
just trust angel dust.
Who Will Star in My Next Dream?
Eyelids, black velvet screen,
auditioning images like a casting machine.
Fleeced
Don't you love the fleecy fashion of a wolf in sheep's clothing?
That rakish lupine lilt like a Scottish kilt is quite presupposing.
River Mountain Ocean
Rivers delight in their flow;
Mountains savor their snow.
But oceans are in concurrence
their contentment comes from recurrence.
Cuddling
In sleep you pull me into your arms like the tide,
a gentle unseen force from which no lover may hide.
A Chuck Yeager Moment
There's a sonic boom resonating in my head
as I break through the 2000 HP follower watershed.
GPS
I have been warned and humiliated by my Nazi GPS;
getting from here to there shouldn't be like a test.
Ghosts in the Graveyard
The dead shall join you soon in song,
in ghostly choruses of ten.
Man's fate points straight unto his grave,
whilst the choristers intone, 'Amen.'
Soulmate Barometer
The choice of topics being raised
or not raised at a first date
is an accurate barometer as to whether
the person opposite you is your soulmate.
How Much Space?
Give a lover space enough to rejoice in their choice,
but not enough room for their doubts to give voice.
Who'll Stop the Rain?
I tried in vain to stop the rain;
now I allow my umbrella to unsheath its disdain.
Deadbeat Daddy
Despite the belief of small children raised by single mothers,
a deadbeat dad is not just another kind of father.
Shrug Off
We can't shrug off love's failure in high style;
we can only shift the wretched pain, and smile.
MMA vs. UFC
'I'll wrestle with any angel any time, any day in the MMA.
But please, Sweet Jesus, keep that fucking UFC octopus away.'
Stomp
Don't let a poet tell you what you already know;
the poet's place is to stomp, not tippy-toe.
Women and Books
Women often sniff the pages
of an old secondhand book;
Scent alone determining whether
they're worth a second look.
Ferdinand VII of Spain
He who can false loyalty feign
shall sit twice upon the throne of Spain.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright eliminated the confining wall,
so now when your wife screams at you
it sounds like you're in Tammany Hall.
Still No Cure to Endure
There are seventy remedies for the common cold,
But not a single cure for growing old.
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
A procession of souls cross the bridge,
some headed for Jersey and some for Bay Ridge.
Holographic Poetry
A great poem is a hologram containing the whole in every part,
you can purge from it every line, and never rip the poem apart.
How to Kiss
It's not the summer breeze we take pleasure in,
but its sudden contact upon our skin.
One moment hot, next moment cold;
a kiss best thrills when it's felt twofold.
Should I Use aYoung Aggressive Stockbroker?
'An old-geezer miser would be far wiser
as your investment-adviser.'
New Year's Wishes
In this New Year
may we steer clear of fear.
And may our only tears come after
joy and laughter.
IndeterminateSex
When forms inquire my gender,
To perplex marketing techs,
I just fill in 'indeterminate sex',
Dispatching them on a bender.
Plentitudes of Platitudes
There are plentitudes of platitudes
masquerading as poetic truth
Like the prophetic emphatic caveat:
'Don't give a thirsty platypus
a fifth of dry vermouth.'
Don't Mess with the Queen
The first man harnessing the secrets of fire
Cannot compare with the revelation of your sovereign ire.
Heavenly Laughter
Only on the wings of laughter
Can we ever reach the hereafter.
Solemnity will weigh you down like stones;
Your gravity's best interred with your bones.
Death
When we learn first-hand that life is brief,
and have become fluent in the language of grief,
that is when we become men,
dispelling undying belief.
Ethnic Oak Jokes
The breeze fills with non-PC trees cracking ethnic jokes
about species of scarlet, ring-cupped and chestnut oaks.
Broken Heart Couplet
I thank thee for my broken heart, the pain, the rain of tears,
Twas a work of art about reality, that would train me through the years.
Time
Time shall pass,
whether you chill or work your ass.
Echos of Love
Your love reverberates in me
like an echo in the volcano's recess.
It glissades off my caldera,
stilling my heart's eruption by noble bequest.
Sleight of Mind
In the roar I hear the silence,
in night I can see daylight.
On what we focus, becomes our reliance,
the sleight of mind will sets things right.
Drama Queen
If you cheat on an actress they make a scene;
that's what you get when you marry a drama queen.
The Mariner's Last Vision
I see the deep green lift up to greet me;
Now I am the sea and the sea is me.
Sharing the Burden
We need God to share the burden of our reality:
The finality of it's mortality, the banality of it's brutality.
The Necessity of God
We need God if only to empty our rancor into Him,
That 'Him' that presides over our tragedies with His apathetic grin.
Promises to Keep
I sink in sleep and cannot keep
what eternal promises I made.
At dawn's first yawn, my love's redrawn,
as faithless dreams begin to fade.
Alzheimer's
Alzheimer memories lie in mason jars,
with loosened lids beneath the stars.
I see my childhood swing tied to a spruce;
yesterday's sway free; today's a noose.
The Queen Bee Putting-Down the Drones
Honey, you're out of your league
and look quite fatigued.
Venite, Adoremus
O Come, All ye Faithful,
Discounted Heaven Awaits ye All!
Black Friday Bells are Ringin'
At the Ole Shopping Mall.
Eclipse
Apollo cock-a-doodle-dude,
'The sun's a bitter pill to swallow.'
Selene reflected, 'I just did, bitch.
I'm the tougher act to follow.'
The Mafia Taught Me
Don't stash the dead in a trunk at the foot of the bed;
dispose of the body of your wrath in an acid bath.
A Winter's Tree
A tree does not tarry lightly upon the winter's frost;
its heart gathers deep into its roots, before all vigor's lost.
When Your Time Has Come
For the man whose time has come,
Life's as sweet as a cherry plum.
But if it isn't your time yet,
Your toil and sweat will become a threat.
A Winter's Tree
A tree does not tarry lightly upon encroaching winter's frost;
its heart gathers deep into its roots, before all vigor's lost.
What Makes a Terrorist Tic
'If you want to glimpse how dark I really am,
Place me beside the brilliant words of our Holy Qur'an.'
Family
For my misery, family brings relief,
tripling my joy, halving my grief.
This aesthetic arithmetic's quite poetic,
an accounting surmounting odds unsympathetic.
Now there seems no hardship I cannot withstand,
accompanied by my exponential, familial band.
The Nonconformists are Coming Out of the Woodwork
I just another nonconformist treading this megalopolis,
not the Pharaoh of Egypt, just another sarcophagus.
Shakespeare vs. Keynesian Economics
If 'Neither a lender nor a borrower be',
investments would dry up, economies stagnate,
and off to the poorhouse go you and me.
The Meaning of Life
The meaning of life is that unacknowledged miracle which is wrought
Between the quest of the seeker and what is being sought.
Erotic Poetry for Dummies
If a mountain was a molehill I'd appreciate your cock,
Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, hard as a rock.
How to Treat Your Lover
If you want to learn how your lover best to treat,
Pretend each time is the last time you'll ever meet.
The Color of Crows
The poet espies the bluest of blues in the blackest of crows,
a petrol iridescence only keenly observed beyond the end of one's nose.
Pain vs. Pleasure
Pain and pleasure are nearly identical,
the difference lies in their temporal perception.
Pleasure feels fleeting, pain feels unending;
both jolt us at the nerve's first inception.
You're Just My Type Too; Dia Betes
'How undisciplined minds ache
for sugar-dusted lemon glaze cake.'
Love, love, love...
Love, love, love...
this is rather getting stale.
Perhaps the tell tale of its worn veneer
is your words now seem as queer as braille.
Leave No Turd Unturned
When life deals you shit,
make the most of it.
Life's arcade won't always give you
the option of lemonade.
The Descent of Man
Poetry's first ascent came to be
with a monkey's descent down from a tree.
Now cruelty drives man back up the tree
and poetry shall thrive as mere memory.
Despair on the Eastern Front {Couplet)
It matters not how many frozen bodies
you throw in the fire to keep me warm and fed.
It is a long Russian winter
and I, too, will be dead.
New Year's Revolving Door
Revolution commences with the overthrow
of New Year's resolution.
Seek not absolution
for our weaknesses immune to evolution.
Poor Excuses for Men
Every now and then good ink flows fluent from my playful pen,
Causing jealous minds to moulder in these poor excuses for men.
Las Vegas and a Hard Place
We're all in this greedy wasteland stuck,
running out of time, running out of luck.
Reality Check
It matters little how many poems I've written,
I'll never beat that viral You Tube kitten.
Snore Like an Eagle
One day I shall spread my winglets,
and like an airmail eagle sore,
But for now my muscles are rather small,
I'll have to exercise some more.
What Parents Are Scared to Tell Their Teen-Agers
'I've been far too reticent;
Your piercings are an embarrassment! '
Burning your Bridges
To live your life with no retreat,
burning your bridges behind you,
Is to be young again, never admit defeat,
hormones raging, without a clue.
Just Needs a Spritz of WD-40
The gates of hell are never jammed,
their creaks and groans always welcome the damned.
Frangible vs. Fungible
No matter how hardened the heart, love's loss will bring it to submission;
our frangible heart is the Achilles heel of our fungible human condition.
Dawn at Brooklyn Bridge
White-capped waves paint the dawn in pivoting strokes of white,
the ashen sky a canvas to reflect East River's light.
Beyond the Broken Bend
What's the point of telling the heartbroken
to 'move on', when they believe
they're at journey's end?
'Heartbreak' becomes the final destination,
when you can't conceive a world still exists
beyond the broken bend.
Trial and Error
If you neatly get it right on your first try,
you'll never learn things deeply
by not asking 'why? '
The Phenomenon of Life
The potter's some man of clay who's molding clay,
a robot making an automaton;
Every day we recreate ourselves from what bricks we're made,
how wondrous life's phenomenon!
The AP Stylebook is Useless
I can't abbreviate abbreviation nor know how to initialize an acronym,
I can find the contraction for contraction nor the précis for a homonym.
Poetry Should Be
Poetry should be a commission
atoning for life's acts of omission.
Poetry should be advertent invention
to contend with a world of contention.
Poetry should be an undermining
of that clichéd, overplayed silver lining.
As Long As It Has a Fast Internet Connection
I need a cozy den to winter in,
a hibernaculum away from the city's din.
The Sanctus Bells of Hell
I am compelled by altar bells to live a holy life,
but temptation wells and my penis swells, so fuck the afterlife.
The British Are Not Coming
''Twas not the stench of the French wench that caused me to retrench;
'twas how she cussed about our Queen with rancour,
that caused me to pull anchor.'
So What Did You Think of His Poetry?
He was a humdrum poet who left his Hallmark upon the world;
in his poems an umbrella never opened, they all magically unfurled.
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
'It is sweet and right to die for your country's glory.'
That's getting stale, bro; time to rewrite the story.
The Poet
The poet's a court jester,
permitted to lament
our blatant inconsistencies,
bullshit and discontent.
He's a canary coal mine tester,
descending into the unknown,
dying in the darkness,
all yellow and alone.
Planning the Future
I play along as she plans our future family,
in the intimate moments before we sleep.
Am I a liar to indulge her dreams with smiles?
Would I be more honest if I'd just weep?
Kinky Valentine Dwarf Sex
You won't need sex toy widgets to fidget a midget;
just give the girl a twirl on your index digit.
Moroccan Last Supper
Cous cous, faded Berber pallete,
Raisins drizzled on Christ's salad.
Burnt offering, paschal lamb,
'Eat my body, here I am,
Disciples,
Drink my blood!
Tomorrow drag me through the mud.'
Sephora's Psychoactive Fall Line
Sephora has a new Krazy-Glue to hold together the mind's fragmentation,
and a firming cream to deal with the stretch marks of imagination.
Fantasy World
'I live in no fantasy world
as you unjustly claim,
so insult not my dragon
by proclaiming him an iguana,
or I'm gonna make it my quest
to stick my sword up your ass
and thusly achieve Nirvana.'
Advice for Poets II
Though vague thoughts may seem by plague besieged,
My liege, you must not let your mind's fount be breached.
Though shit the whirl of your words may be,
Twirl on those coil'd turds unto infinity.
Curse of the Ageing Woman
I'm a wallflower, bluestocking, left on the Shelf,
When you're beyond one's sell-by date, you've left by yourself,
Poet and the Fool
The fool does his ego inflate,
much like a poet does his oeuvre overrate.
But the truth of the matter
is that neither shit matters;
harsh reality shall both nitwits deflate.
The Minimum Wages of Sin
I've been thinkin' about Lincoln
and America's antebellum way.
What the abolitionists called slavery,
we call minimum wage today.
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. ~ King James Bible
'Tis truth in this ~
In faith man sows everlasting bliss.
Fall in Love in Fall
It would be more befitting to fall in love in the fall,
for the leave's colorful dance of death, augurs the long haul.
Play the Odds of Love
What are the odds we'd meet inside a needle's eye?
Perchance, should either of us die before we've said goodbye,
Let's make solemn vow that we shall meet again
In the haystack that was the needle's den.
'We Need your Prints and DNA to Eliminate You as a Suspect'
If you believe naught is naughty in this world,
Why is every crook's fingerprint uniquely whorled?
Don't Dismiss the Devil's Bliss
I dreamt a snake reminisced then purred with a hiss,
and kissed me in my cradle above an abyss.
I woke up and yelled, 'What the hell's this? '
Because I was the Devil and for me this was bliss.
There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture.
Network TV's insistent stupidity
to the Outer Limits pushes me.
Tony Soprano's Bada Bing of Conscience
While I waited for the church bells to ring,
my conscience chimed in
with a pang,
bada bing!
The yin and yang
of what was right or wrong,
became clear as a bell as I played along.
Creating Poetry
I'd rather labor at my own poems
than consume the ones existing,
Enlisting images here and there from classics,
choosing only those that are worth persisting.
Then I twist them into something new,
create an arc to catch a spark,
To illuminate the place I'm in,
with paper lanterns in the dark.
Breadth and Depth of Love
Is it really so hard to love this man
Which to your siren's calls been lured?
Cannot his kiss traverse the oceans depths
Piggy-backed upon his word?
Neither frigate, freighter nor chariot,
Hitched to Hermes's heels,
Can convey the breadth of purest love
That this heart truly feels.
You Are the Light
You are the light within stained glass windows,
sacred shimmering in the dark.
You are the words that give my life meaning,
reassurance between the quotation marks.
You are the dream that dreams its dreaming,
tremulous glimmerings of ambrosial hope.
You are the love that keeps my heart gleaming,
removing all limits to its boundless scope.
Beware the Clock Tower in the Square
Implacable hands of time,
You are no friend of mine!
Your tower strikes twelve, or one, or five,
Chiming, 'What is it to be alive? '
If I delve deep within your works,
Shall I find elves wound up like clerks?
There's something diabolic
In all things mechanistic,
A fatalistic reckoning,
Ciphering us into statistics.
Steady Bridges Won't Get You There [10w]
You must cross shaky bridges to go where few dare.
What is the Purpose of Poetry?
Let's agree to disagree,
Poetry sites are about egos, not camaraderie.
A Good Death to Lament
What humanity so desperately needs is a good death to lament;
Which only begs our predicament, that all great souls have been spent.
I don't give a damn to mourn a lamb of God so easy sacrificed.
Nor give a shit or half-a-whit to crow elegies to crowds so easily pacified.
That leaves me nothing else to lament but my impending death,
and a good death I shall make it, leaving humanity in debt.
Muzzle
I kissed a woman in my muzzle;
How she got there remains a puzzle.
Poetry
Poetry was the foolish passion of my youth,
forsaken for twenty years
to raise a family.
When I returned to it,
miraculously,
my youth was returned to me
and now poetry raises me.
Applecart
Who upsets the applecart,
should vend fruit twice as smart.
Love and the Tax Man
If my pen hath virtue, so does your smile,
Let us then wed in haste and jointly file.
Secrets
Secrets spoken in a whisper
Have gossip as a sister.
Brewing Poetry
Comma sips between the lines,
insights percolate into a 10w,
a latte sonnet here,
a cappuccino couplet there.
A few smartass epiphanies,
and something new in every brew.
One final fix,
voilà, the poem is fixed!
I adore this caffeine,
that alchemizes the extraordinary
into the routine,
and vice versa with the unforeseen.
It turns blue aquamarine,
and words into Mexican
jumping beans.
Truths
Truths esteemed most high
either clarify or unmask a lie.
Adults Defined
Complicated creatures full of quirks,
50% lovely and 50% jerks.
Ambition
Look into humility's eyes
and witness ambition's most cunning guise.
Dragon's Head
Pry not secrets from the dead,
better bid goodbyes instead.
Chutzpah
Chutzpah puts the balls in fearless
and schmaltz in careless.
Time
'Time's a healer' just ain't true;
in time all diseases will kill you.
Limits
Act as if limits didn't exist,
and you'll either be kissed
or be slapped on the wrist.
Crapehanger
When a crapehanger dies without forewarning,
who'll hangs crepe paper as a sign of mourning?
Marriage Decoded
Couples bear the scars of aborted dreams and slurs;
she fucked mine, so I fucked hers.
Dancing Stars with Too Many Pockets
If you want the stars to dance,
Remove those silly cargo pants.
Counting Sunshine
Like misers who measure their wealth in sheckels,
redheaded children count sunshine in freckles.
Now
Whether you Hurry up! or P r o c r a s t i n a t e,
the NOW doesn't discriminate.
Love and Distance
'Distance cannot do us harm,
Home's always in your arms.'
The Poet as Enchantress
The poet is an enchantress,
with or without a dress.
Improvise
A word to the wise,
to be demur is forfeiture.
So when in doubt, improvise,
acting as if you're cocksure.
Love and Distance
'Distance cannot do us harm,
Home's always in your arms.'
Brownie Mix
Betwixt hell and the River Styx,
I'll be shitting bricks.
A Love for All Seasons
Take heart, beyond sad winter lies the spring,
Whose rains heal and wash away most everything.
That come summer, good tidings shall past bad undo,
As lovers sing and bring their love anew.
Hope and Desire
Youth's hopes and desires retires
in age's forsaken funeral pyre.
Poetry and Balance
Poems must straddle the line
Between popularity and being fine.
Military Fashion Statement
'Tin lid covered in scrim,
ain't no para, just wanna look like em.'
I'm Sorry
Your 'I'm sorry's, they drizzle, too many, too late.
Would it not have been wiser, not to kiss Kate?
Finitude
Finitude is what all creatures share,
human, pigeon, turtle, bear;
We all die, we all die!
Give or take a fearful year.
Bucket List
Your foes, your banes, your enemies, pardon every one,
This must be wrought before you die, and can't be left undone.
God's Deicide
When God decried man's prideful stride,
the Creator committed suicide.
Time
How time takes wing when we're having fun,
then ticks, and tocks, and clicks, and clacks,
when we're undone.
Poetry is a Ladder
The poet's job is to create a ladder
for the reader to enter his imagination
and
once
they've
climbed
u¬p
to
the
top
remove
each
rung
by
grad¬ation
Passion
Passion's the one true metric by which to measure man;
when all our facades crumble, tis' only passion that shall stand.
Viral vs. Bacterial Death
AIDs is a stigma, Ebola a fear,
death's the only pandemic,
by which means, I don't care.
Onward Ho Status Quo!
Satire's a sermon, parody but a game;
whatever poets poke fun at, remains just the same.
Whoreson
Bar sinister, bend sinister, bowed cock
Bastards slither, born out-of-wedlock.
The Stink of Hate
When haters write they raise a stink;
must be the venom coursing through their ink.
Moonlight
I'm soaked in moonlight
that's wrung out with the tide.
I'll glow now like a saint
until the iridescence subsides.
Pun vs. Puny
'His penis was a pun,
judging by the predictable groans.
The hours set by innuendos,
the seconds by the moans.'
STD: Sexually Transmitted Disease
Players, playboys and pricks all must
Pick at their STDs of lust.
Mint Julep
I've had more than a hint of a tulip or two,
after treating them to a mint julep,
or two.
Childhood Memories
My childhood memories seem etched in stone:
rabbit antennas, fallout shelters, mom's laugh, a rotary phone.
Meaning of Life
Life's but the love and laughter we've amassed,
the friendships forged that shall outlast
possessions, station and renown,
the make-up palette of a clown.
Love's End
Love's end is as if an angel closed his wings.
The dying heart sings silence to which it gravely clings.
Pearls of Wisdom
Pearls of wisdom should be well strung,
With a play of words and well hung.
Love to Tide You Over
In an errant sea the tide stirs with perverse pride;
embrace her wayward currents as you would a runaway bride.
Fuck Me Again
My heart's uprooted like a tree;
I come before the count of three.
But before the count of thirty's tallied,
The remainder of my loins have rallied.
Valentine's Day
It's quite near crystal clear
that I love you, dear ~
Light years more than
that queer elephant's ear
from Zaire.
Pigging-Out in Heaven
Heaven is an endless feast, to say the very least.
You can eat all you want and forever be gaunt.
Peep... Peep... Peep
You can feed breadcrumbs to a pigeon,
but an eaglet needs flesh to soar.
And so it is with sustaining
all consummate carnivores.
Endangered Language
Three thousand languages will disappear
in the course of the next seventy years.
Billions of words never to be heard again
shall like incense arise
to fill page after page of empty skies.
Getting Naked with Strangers
Getting naked with strangers shows
we're trusting fools at heart,
More concerned with whims of pleasure
than with being smart.
Global Financial Crisis in Newspaper Headlines
Everything Must Go!
Economy Ails.
Massive Unemployment.
Blowout Sales.
New York City
In fast-paced New York City
even the bubbling brooks babble.
The Hudson and East River run rabid,
skirting the rabble
Oprah in a Muumuu Looks Like a Yurt
Nudity fits the body, graceful as a glove;
loose fashions only obscure our perfect frame of love.
An Anschauung Meringue for Debaters
You cannot adequately argue your point of view,
unless you can persuasively argue your opponent's position.
Every position must conceive its petition
to carry weight in the meringue rhetoric of debate.
Spring in Winter
She was Spring in Winter,
an unseasonable love that stood in ravishing denial.
We can not measure love by the shadow it casts,
but by the way it ignites the face of the sundial.
Wouldn't It Be Great
Wouldn't it be great
To make heads or tails
of mermaids tails
or the mislaid dreams
of heads of state.
Dance of the Seven Veils
'You've unveiled your seven veils,
but still you hide you heart.
I'm waiting for you the eighth to bare,
for our intimacy to start.'
Accurs'd McDonalds, I Bite my Thumb at Thee!
Let vex'd heavens rant and rage,
This here shackled slave ain't workin' for no
McMinimum wage.
Angel Star Couplet
Stars gently beat their silky wings
In galaxies far from everything.
Seraphim bejewel the darkest night
For God's amusement and man's delight.